


like me for me

by kingofsoftstyle



Category: Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Cliche, Fluff, Getting Together, Identity Reveal, M/M, No Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, its cute!, they're both 16
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-07 07:21:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18615859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingofsoftstyle/pseuds/kingofsoftstyle
Summary: johnny storm likes spider-man, but peter doesn't think he'll like peter parker.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> there will be no endgame spoilers until, maybe chapter four? idk. also this is set around 6 months after homecoming? mcu timelines are confusing

Peter Parker was smiling down at his phone, ignoring his best friends and his food. Peter Parker never stares at his phone so intently. Ned could tell he was on some form of social media but he couldn’t figure out what could possibly be keeping his friend so enraptured.

“Peter? Peter Parker? Earth to Peter?” no response, Ned leaned in closer, “...Spider-Man?”

The phone in Peter’s hand drops to the table, making a loud noise as it hits face down, “What, Ned!?”

Ned leans back on the lunch table bench he’s sitting at and lets out one of his big, wheezy laughs, “Dude, you’re so stupid! What’s on your phone that's more interesting than me and M.J?”

The what, rather _who_ , on Peter’s phone was wildly more interesting than watching M.J throw grapes into Ned’s mouth but Peter would never tell them that. Peter would also _never_ tell them who was keeping his thoughts occupied.

“Its uh, just a silly article May sent me about...spiders,” Ned was satisfied with this answer. M.J however had the look on her face that said, _you are a horrible liar and you know I can see through your bullshit, Parker._

But she just turned back to Ned, tossing another grape into his mouth.

 

* * *

 

Peter doesn’t think he could ever leave New York.

Yeah it blows up every four months and the streets are kind of gross but it is incredible. The food, the people (most of them), and the _view_. People pay for a view like the one Peter is getting right now on top of Lady Liberty. It’s 11:45 pm but the city is bright and alive. When Johnny first brought up meeting on top of The Statue of Liberty, Peter’s first thought (after Karen warned him of the severe fine he could get for climbing the monument) was, ‘ _How am I going to get up there?’_ but he managed. He felt bad every time he climbed up the statue though, it took years of hard work and manpower to build the thing and he’s basically groping her boobs so he could sit on her head. But once he made it to the top and saw the gorgeous lights of the city at night, quiet and still but thrumming with energy, he thought, “ _Yeah, I could never live anywhere else._ ” Also, Spider-Man really only has a job in New York.

In the distance Peter sees a bright yellow spot in the sky, very clearly not a star. The spot grows bigger, getting closer until its stopping to hover a few feet in front of Peter.

“You’re late,” Peter says, smiling at Johnny under his mask.

Johnny shrugs, “Sue caught me on my way out.”

“Oh? Do tell,” Peter reaches behind him to grab the bag of gyros he had bought as Johnny touches down next to him and flames off. Johnny immediately digs into the bag and pulls out a gyro labeled ‘ _pork_.’

“Sue’s really been on my ass lately about being out late after your whole deal with the vulture and that thing with The Avengers trying to kill each other in Germany. She promises she hasn’t put an alarm on my window but the second I opened it she was bustin’ through my door, askin’ me for an explanation as to where I was going,” Johnny explained as he took a bite into his gyro.

“What did you tell her?”

Johnny swallowed his bite and said, “That I had a hot date, we were goin’ to see a midnight showing of Rocky Horror.”

Peter laughed, “In your suit?”

“That’s what she said!” Johnny laid down violently, being conscious of his gyro on his descent, “She let me go though, after I promised that she wouldn’t see any headlines saying ‘THE HUMAN TORCH STOPS BANK ROBBERY IN BROOKLYN!’ when she wakes up.”

“She’s just looking out for you dude,” Peter snorted and lifted his mask up to just under his nose. He picked up the gyro labeled _chicken_ and took a bite, “My aunt says that to me too sometimes, ‘I fully support your _extracurriculars_ but if I wake up and find that Spider-Man ran into a burning building or stopped a train heist or something, I don’t think I could ever recover.’”

Peter has been friends with Johnny for about six months. When word got around that there was a guy on fire flying around New York, Peter couldn’t help himself. He followed the burning man to the top of the Empire State Building (and almost shit his pants in the process). Peter was immediately enamored with Johnny (The Human Torch is what twitter called him), he was everything Peter wished he could be out of the mask. Funny, kind, unbelievably charming and unfairly handsome. Distractingly handsome.

Peter was starting to, “catch feelings” as M.J would say. This was a new feeling for Peter, he had never befriended someone as Spider-Man before! All Peter wanted was for Spider-Man to have friends and allies that weren’t The Avengers. He wanted someone to help stop bank robberies with. What he wasn’t expecting however, was to fall for Johnny. Peter was close to revealing his identity to his new friend until the realization that he didn’t want him to be his friend.

 _He likes_ Spider-Man _not Peter. If I want any chance with him I can’t tell him who I am! He’ll be so disappointed…_

Peter still wasn’t ready to take the mask off yet, but he couldn’t resist telling Johnny about May. Peter would tell stories about his aunt and Johnny would joke, “ _She sounds incredible, Spidey! I hope to meet her some day.”_ It was Johnny’s not-so-subtle way of telling Peter, “Hey, take the mask off idiot. I want to meet _you_.”

But Peter Parker isn’t charming. Peter Parker isn’t witty. Peter Parker can’t stop a bus with his bare hands. Spider-Man can. So as long as Johnny never meets Peter, Spider-Man can continue being friends with him.

“Right Spidey?”

Peter jumped out of his head, “Huh? Yes!”

Johnny laughed and shook his head, “You weren’t paying attention.”

“Sorry,” Peter sheepishly grabbed the back of his neck, “I keep spacing out today.”

Johnny perked up, Spider-Man almost never talked about his personal life, “Yeah? Whats up?”

“Oh you know...school...work...friends…”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a terrible liar?”

“I think all things considered, I’m a pretty great liar.”

Johnny laughed and nodded, “Keeping up a secret life must be exhausting. I mean, I don’t outright say ‘Hey I’m the Human Torch! Me, Johnny Storm!’ but I don’t hide my identity either. I can’t imagine how stressful having to live two lives is.”

“Well, Its mainly a safety thing. Bad guys tend to go after superhero’s loved ones. They can’t go after my loved ones if they don’t know who they are,” Peter took another bite, “But it is stressful.”

“Thats valid. I don’t have to worry about that since my only family are also superheroes. I also don’t pick fights with these bad guys you love to bother so much,” Johnny smirked at Peter and Peter almost fell into the bay.

Karen spoke up from inside his mask, “ _Peter, your heart rate has increased, what is the matter?_ “ Peter ignored her and continued to talk to Johnny.

“I also like having a life outside of Spider-Man. With an alter ego I don’t feel the pressure of having to be Spider-Man all the time.”

Johnny’s brow furrowed but his sour expression quickly gave way to a smile, “I have a life, I go to school, play video games with Ben, I have a cool Instagram account, I fix cars in my free time. I also happen to be able to set myself on fire and fly around New York. I don’t have to be Johnny Storm _and_ The Human Torch because they’re the same person.”

Peter adjusted himself so he was completely facing Johnny, their gyros long forgotten, “Trust me, the guy under this suit is completely different from Spider-Man.”

Johnny’s expression softened even more, “I’m not talking to the suit though, am I?”

Peter shook his head and pulled the mask down, “No, no, no. Don’t try and be all philosophical. It doesn’t suit you.”

“Right, I forgot you had all the brains in this friendship,” for a second Peter thought he had said relationship. A boy can dream.

Johnny continued, “Can you fix a car? Or better yet, can you hotwire a car?””

“No, but I have stolen a car before.”

Johnny jumped up onto his feet, “WHAT!? Spider-Man! That’s a crime! Tell me everything.”

Peter laughed and crossed his legs, “It’s a long story, and I’m pretty sure my very existence is a crime. Sitting on the Statue of Liberty is also, probably, a crime.”

“Ugh, you’re no fun,” Johnny groaned and plopped back down to sit in front of Peter, “You’re an avenger though, aren’t you? I don’t think the laws of vigilantism apply to you guys.”

“Vigilantism? Wow Flamebrain, when did you learn that one?”

“Eat shit, Webhead. Reed told me that one,” either Peter is going insane or Johnny is blushing.

Before Peter could respond, Johnny spoke back up, “Hey I should probably get home. Sue and I have to get up early to visit our dad in Glenville.”

Peter stood up, picking up the trash from their food, “Yeah, yeah no worries.”

Johnny flamed on and flew out to hover in front of Peter again, Peter tried his luck, “Hey…do you want go out tomorrow when you get back from Glenville? Commit vigilantism?”

Johnny turned away from Peter for a second then turned back, “Uh, we probably won’t be back till late and it’s a Sunday so...next weekend?”

Peter felt a little sad but nodded, “Yeah, that’s fine.”

Johnny smiled and waved, “Cool, seeya next week, Spidey! I’ll text you!” and with that he flew off.

“You were quieter than normal tonight, Karen.”

“ _Are you sure giving him your number last month was a good idea?”_ Karen asked, ignoring Peter’s statement.

“Yeah? It’s not like we go to the same school and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know how to track my phone or find out my personal info.”

“ _His brother in law would probably be able to, Reed Richards. He is an exemplary scientist and engineer, as well as his wife, Susan Storm.”_

Peter took a few steps back from the edge, letting the gliders fall from the side of his suit, “Johnny is not going to track my phone Karen. He’s too nice for that.”

“ _Peter, I would not be so trusting of someone you-”_

“Karen, what’s the wind like right now?” Peter interrupted her.

“ _About 5mph heading north.”_

“Perfect, here we go.” as Peter jumped over the edge and started gliding toward the city, he started envying Johnny’s ability to fly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u for commenting on the last chapter, i really appreciate it!! i also feel very overwhelmed by it so i hope this chapter is good and not too late ! i also tried something kind of poetic? i think it turned out okay. (endgame spoilers in the end notes!!)

“I heard that the school newspaper is writing a piece on Spider-Man.”

Peter raised his eyebrows at Ned, “Yeah? And?”

Ned shifted uncomfortably in his chair, “Well...I heard that the editor in chief, Kayla, doesn’t have the kindest opinions on him.”

“Is she the one writing the article?”

“Yeah. I don’t even know why she would hate,” Ned dropped his voice, “ _you._ I mean, when has Spider-Man ever done anything bad?”

“He broke her dad’s back,” a voice interrupted as someone sat down next to Ned.

Ned, turned to M.J, “How do you know that? How do you even know what we’re talking about?”

M.J closed her book and turned to the two boys, “It was on the news and you guys are loud.”

Peter cleared his throat, “When- when did Spider-Man break someone’s back?”

“In that fire in that new high rise a few months ago, he was carrying two people out, Kayla’s family, and then he dropped her dad on the ground. Apparently he didn’t even stop to check if he was okay,” Peter vividly remembers that night, Johnny had came and helped him get people out of the building. He also clearly remembers exactly what M.J was talking about. There were two people stuck on a balcony on the second highest floor, the fire was right on the other side of the balcony door and Peter couldn’t think of any safer way of getting them down than by simply carrying them. So he had the little girl, presumably Kayla’s sister, get on his back while he held her dad under his arm. While Peter was swinging down her dad started freaking out and hitting him, so Peter accidentally dropped him from about 10 feet in the air. He didn’t have time to check on the man after setting the girl down because Johnny was calling at him about two families stuck on the 15th floor.

Peter read up about the aftermath of that fire, one casualty, five injuries. Nothing about a man breaking his back at the hands of Spider-Man. Only praises for Spider-Man and the Human Torch and stories about the amount of fatalities that could have happened without their intervention.

Ned looked as if he had just discovered a new element, “Oh! I remember that! Where did you hear about Kayla’s dad though?”

M.J took a bite of her banana, “From Kayla. She was all angry about it during english the next day.”

Peter ran his hands through his hair and looked down at the table. _Thank god Mr. Stark didn’t hear about that,_ he thought, _he would have killed me._

Ned and M.J have already moved on and started talking about their chemistry test next period but Peter couldn’t pay attention. Spider-Man had hurt someone, _he_ had hurt someone. How could he let that happen? Spider-Man is the good guy, he doesn’t carelessly injure civilians. He’s supposed to protect them. The general public have just started to trust him, and if Kayla writes about how Spider-Man injured her dad than they’re going to change their minds.

Peter’s phone pings;

 **Johnny** _12:13 PM_

_Baxter Building. After School. Dress To Impress._

“Peter?”

“Yes!” Peter’s head whipped up from his phone, M.J looked at him like he was growing a third eye, “What did you get on the chem test you weirdo.”

“Oh,” Peter set his phone down, “An A, I think. It wasn’t that hard.”

M.J rolled her eyes, “Yeah but you’re the smartest kid at this school, if you got an A I’ll probably get a B.”

Peter shrugged "You're smart...you'll do fine."

M.J squinted at Peter who looked down at his phone to avoid her gaze. He typed a response to Johnny's earlier message:

_does “dress to impress” mean come in a suit or come in THE suit??_

* * *

 

Turns out “dress to impress” did in fact mean, show up to the Baxter Building in the Spidey Suit. The Baxter Building is the old Stark Tower, bought by Reed Richards after he returned from his excursion in space. All that was known about the crash was that Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Ben Grimm and Jonathan Storm were crew members on a mission to Mars that ended up turning around and crashing back into Earth. When the ship was recovered, all four crew were miraculously alive. Another space mission gone wrong. Of course, Peter knew more about the crash, Johnny had told him every detail, before, after and during.

Reed had bought Stark Tower immediately after returning from the crash to give his family a safe place to live in work. Johnny said that the plan was that the building would become the new base of operations for superheroes in New York who didn’t feel like going upstate to hang out with the Avengers. Peter also knew that Johnny wasn’t the only one to gain powers from the crash, though he was the only one to go public with them. 

Peter knocked on the window of the room he knew to be Johnny’s. The window flung open immediately, “Spider-Man! You came!”

Peter smiled under his mask, “You asked, didn’t you?”

“Yeah but I thought you’d be too busy curing cancer or whatever it is you super geniuses do.” 

Peter moved to sit in the window, “Is that what you think I do all day? Cure cancer?”

“Yeah, you definitely don’t go to a normal public school,” Johnny said with a shrug.

“How do you know I go to school at all? How do you know I’m not a 34 year old man?” Peter leaned in closer to Johnny. 

Johnny smirked, “Because if you were a 34 year old man, you wouldn’t be so cute,” Peter was never well versed in flirting. The amount of people who have flirted with him in his life was maybe two, and he definitely didn’t know how to reciprocate which was why the only response he was able to come up with in the moment was; 

“Oh, Wow.” 

_ ‘Oh, Wow’? Really Peter? _

Johnny, bless his heart, just laughed it off and politely asked Peter to move out of the window. Peter wanted so badly to believe that this blatant flirting was something more than Johnny being Johnny. But Johnny flirted with anything that breathed, flirting was his way of complimenting people.

Peter looked up at Johnny, who was talking animatedly while hovering in the air, flames jumping off his skin like solar flares as he talked. Peter had found that the flames around Johnny’s body intensified or lessened depending on what he was feeling, like a weird mood ring. When he was flying through the air next to Peter he seemed brighter than the sun, screaming and laughing with such distractingly infectious joy that Peter almost ran into a building or billboard more than once. He had seen Johnny’s flames dim after failing to control his power, harming people or buildings in the process. 

Looking back, he’s pretty sure hes had a crush on Johnny since the second he met him, an embarrassing, cliche, lovey-dovey crush that got worse every time they met up. He couldn’t tell Ned because the chances of Ned spilling the beans to either Johnny or to the world that Spider-Man had a crush on The Human Torch were too high for Peter to risk it. If he told M.J about it she would just accuse him of being a “stupid-horny-teenage-boy”, if he told May she would ask way too many personal questions and Peter would undoubtedly regret asking her for advice, and if he told Mr. Stark...that’d be weird. He’s not telling Mr. Stark. He considered, in a moment of desperation, of asking Susan for advice, but also decided that would be weird. He had met Johnny’s family once, fleetingly, after a fight with some goons who still had some fancy alien tech from The Vulture.

He had no one to turn to on this, he always at least had May to help with the awkward and weird parts of growing up. Part of him was fine with his friendship with Johnny being mostly private, he could figure out his own feelings without outside interference and enjoy Johnny’s company without his nosy friends. The other part of him wanted to stand on top of a roof and scream about how bad he had it for Johnny Storm. How bad his heart ached every time Johnny smiled at him and ran a hand through his hair.

At some point, Johnny stopped talking about his day and turned his full attention to Peter, “So I was thinking we could go and patrol around Queens today? We’ve been patrolling around Manhattan a lot recently.” 

“ _ I’m so whipped,”  _ Peter thought.

“Yeah, yeah sounds good,” Peter said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> even barely mentioning tony is making me sad :( i think he'll be in the next chapter to make me feel better. i'm trying my best to keep this as close to the canon time line as i can so sorry if its a bit off.


End file.
